Pierre Beauchamp lived from 1636 to 1705 he was born in Versailles a wealthy French area into a family of French dance masters; he was a French dancer, teacher and choreographer. He was the ballet tutor of King Louis XIV also known as the Sun King and was regarded as one of the finest dancers of his time. Beauchamp is also known to be the first to officially codify the five basic positions of ballet.
The first assigned date of ballet is in 1581, when the so called Ballet Comique de la Reine was produced, this was in the early baroque period where dance was moving of court dancing which was an interpretation of fencing the baroque period was from 16th to 18th Century. During the baroque period during the Reign of King Louis XIV ballet progressed a great deal, King Louis XIV was an excellent dancer as a young man and was one of the most helpful patrons dance has ever known. In 1661 King Louis asked his ballet master Beauchamp to establish rules for ballet which resulted in the five basic positions of ballet. Beauchamp was a brilliant dancer himself, he was known for his pirouettes, elevations and tours en l’air. …show more content…
Because of the one view point, to show the audience the most aesthetic and best display of their technique dancers rotated their feet so their precise footwork could be seen from the front. Beauchamp was made director of the Academie Royale de Danse in 1671 which was a famous French dance school. Beauchamp made his debut to the court of Louis XIV at age 17 (1648), in the Ballet du dereglement